East Mississippi roads set for improvements

By By William F. West / community editor
Aug. 7, 2002
East Mississippi motorists could have a much smoother ride on three rural highways in the coming months.
The most noticeable improvement project will be the repaving of Highway 39 from the Lauderdale-Kemper county line to the DeKalb city limits.
The Mississippi Transportation Commission approved a bid by Superior Asphalt for the 12.9-mile job.
Superior Asphalt's bid of $1.58 million was lower than APAC-Mississippi's bid of $1.65 million, said Mark Turner, a Mississippi Department of Transportation official.
But APAC outbid Superior Asphalt for the right to repave Highway 19 from Collinsville to the Lauderdale-Newton county line.
APAC's bid for the five-mile job was $642,439, lower than a $654,909 bid by Superior Asphalt, Turner said.
The two jobs, advertised in May and approved by the Transportation Commission on June 11, are part of MDOT's statewide highway improvement and maintenance for the current fiscal year.
In other MDOT news, Turner said that APAC was the lone bidder on a July advertisement for repaving a 4.8-mile stretch of Highway 493 from north Meridian to Bailey.
APAC bid $565,314 to repave Highway 493 from south of 52nd Street to the junction of Highway 495, Turner said.
Turner said that the MDOT staff is recommending APAC's bid, but the commission will have the final say when it meets on Tuesday.
Turner is an assistant to the contract administration engineer at the MDOT offices in Jackson. Both APAC and Superior Asphalt are Jackson-based firms.